We should not fear death because we are dying to life on earth from the moment we start life in Christ. God houses the treasure of Christ's light in the Tupperware of our lives. We are crushed and twisted by the forces of this world but never despairing or destroyed. We are always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Cor. 4:10).
The noun translated "dying" (νέκρωσιν) is not the word Paul normally uses for death (θάνατος, see vs. 11-12) in the New Testament (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p. 387). The word (νέκρωσις) means the "process of dying or the state of being dead" (NIDNTT, 1:443). The dying of Jesus (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) marks anyone living for Jesus. The cross is the perfect symbol for Christians because His dying shapes our living. We live dying lives.
We are carrying about (περιφέροντες) the dying of Jesus in our bodies. The verb means to carry the sick around in our arms or to carry someone we love in our hearts (BAGD, p. 653). The present tense indicates that we carry the dying of Jesus continuously throughout life. Paul places the adverb "always" (πάντοτε) first in the clause to stress the constancy of the carrying - no exceptions and no vacations!
We are constantly dying to life on earth in order to display the life of Christ in everything we do. The purpose clause (ἵνα) connects the dying to the living. The dying of Jesus (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) parallels the life of Jesus (ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ). God's purpose for the dying life is to reveal the life of Christ to the world. The verb translated "manifested" (φανεφωθῇ) means, in the passive voice, to be revealed (BAGD, p. 852) in this case, by God. The only way for God to make known the life of Christ in us is for us to experience the death of Christ in our lives.
The death and life of Christ are displayed in our bodies, a phrase which is repeated for emphasis (ἐν τῷ σώματι). The sense is that all this dying and living takes place in our physical lives, in our bodily beings. The word "body" (σῶμα) is uniquely suited to carry this idea since it can refer either to a corpse or a living person (NIDNTT, 1:233). My bodily person is the place where I demonstrate my allegiance to his death, and the instrument God uses to display His life (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p. 87). Paul eliminates any possibility of Gnostic ideas separating the corporeal from the spiritual aspects of life. Christ's life is displayed in our physical lives.
The call to come to Christ is the call to die - to sacrifice my life for His life as He sacrificed His life for mine. The dying of Jesus in my personal life demonstrates the life of Jesus in my death to self. It is only as I die for Him that His life is revealed in me.
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